Friday, September 2, 2011

I have to get this off my chest!
I was in Melbourne this morning (I live in the country) and boarded a tram in North Melbourne and "touched" on.....
Beep beep says the thing "touch again"
I touched again and and again and got a sympathetic "tch tch" from the 2 "ladies" (close to my age) watching and so I went and sat down. Very quickly a large figure loomed above me: Ticket Inspector.
THEN one of the 2 nice ladies( also Ticket Inspectors) pointed at me : "scan her!"
"Oh is there a problem?" I say, "I tried to touch on, over and over ask her"
"But you don't have a ticket, do you?"
Well was I cross? The whole tram looking on and getting the opportunity to make the necessary arrangements for themselves. Any way he went on and on, apparently I hadn't swiped on since August 6th!! I explained not so calmly that I don't live in Melbourne and haven't been on a tram in that time.
And then he demonstrated at another machine that the card worked. I pointed out that I didn't know you had to touch on at all the machines but perhaps THAT lady (or any other good samaritan) could have assisted me.
Not her job!
A lovely lady then came to my assistance but was forcefully brushed aside.
He told me he wasn't sure how to handle all this, not sure what he expected at that stage but I pointed out I now had a valid ticket on my card!
"Must be going", the 3 of them said. No uniforms by the way and they would not give their names!

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About Me

I have been playing with textiles most of my life.
In recent years I have developed a particular interest in japanese textiles. I started collecting used cotton kimonos and futon covers which were relatively inexpensive. I would unpick them and launder the pieces and then use the fabric to make new pieces, mostly quilts.
More recently the fabric has become particularly expensive especially the older mended pieces (or boro) and I have had to curtail my collecting. In my work I have tried to develop pieces from within the limits of my fabric collection. I have made pieces which are almost monochromatic, such as only blues or only whites.
This has challenged me to extract contrast and pattern and texture from within a very limited range of colour. I am smitten with indigo but also have explored whites and taupes and occasionally silks for the lustre they can contribute.